ITEM 127-112-R0505

MONTANA BOARD OF
REGENTS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Policy and
Procedures Manual

SUBJECT:
ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Policy 301.5
- Transfer of credits

Effective
March 3, 2003; Issued March 11, 2003

Board policy:

1.††††† All
college level courses from regionally accredited institutions of higher
education will be received and applied by all campuses of the Montana
University System, and by the community colleges, towards the free elective
requirements of the Associate and Baccalaureate degrees.

NOTE:† College level courses shall be defined as those courses that are
applicable toward an associate of arts, associate of science or baccalaureate
degree at their respective institution. The receiving institution will
determine in advance of a student's enrollment which courses within an
associate of applied science degree program will be credited toward a given
associates or baccalaureate degree. In all cases, such courses shall not
include remedial or developmental courses.

2.††††† In
relation to the major, minor, general education, distribution requirements, and
free electives of the Associate and Baccalaureate degrees, all campuses of the
Montana University System, and the community colleges, are authorized to
determine the applicability of credits earned at regionally accredited
institutions of higher education.

3.††††† In
administering the policy in paragraphs (1) and (2) an institution shall include
the credits earned by a student from an institution which is a candidate for
regional accreditation after the student has successfully completed 20 semester
credits with a 2.0 cumulative grade point average at the receiving institution.

4.††††† Campuses
of the Montana University System, and the community colleges, may give credit
for education received from non‑collegiate institutions on the basis of
recommendations published by the American Council on Education and the National
Program on Noncollegiate Sponsored Instruction from the Board of Regents of the
State of NY (NYSED).

5.6.††† Institutions may make exceptions to give credit
if the criteria described above are not met. However, the following
principles should be followed:

a.††††† The
chief academic officer, registrar, and admissions officer should review each
case utilizing the following criteria:

(1)†††† There
must be evidence that there is academic quality in the institution, both in the
faculty and in program offering.

(2)†††† The student
must earn at least a minimum 2.0 grade point average or its equivalent at the
receiving institution.

b.††††† Institutions
may determine policies relating to the acceptance of college credit from other
countries.

6.††††† All campuses of the Montana
University System, and the three (3) community colleges, shall establish an
internal appeals process to review decisions concerning the transfer of
credits.† Because of the significant
differences in size and organizational structure within the Montana University
System, the processes will not be absolutely identical.† The appeals procedures will have the
following common features, however:

a.Decisions
concerning the applicability of courses in a studentís major, minor, option or

certificate
will be reviewed, using the academic structure and hierarchy in place on each
campus.† The review will begin with the
appropriate academic administrator who is closest to the program where the
credential is offered, and will end with the chief academic officer.† On most campuses, that means that the review
may begin with a department chair, could include a dean, and would end with a
provost or vice president for academic affairs.

b.Decisions concerning the applicability of courses
in the institutionís general education program will be reviewed by a faculty
committee.† That committee can be one
that already exists on the campus; or it can be a committee created to satisfy
the expectations of this policy.† Any
decision of the committee can be appealed to the chief academic officer of the
campus, who will make the final review and decision for the institution.

c.Decisions concerning the applicability of courses
as free elective credits at the

institution
will follow the procedure outlined in subsection (b) above.

The campuses are required to
notify students of their appeal rights, under this policy, when a decision has
been made about the applicability of their transfer credit coursework and that
written decision is given to students.†
Board of Regentsí Policy 301.5.1, System of Controls, sets out most of
those notice times.

If a student exercises the
appeal rights set out in this policy, the review and a final decision must be
completed by the class pre-registration date for the following academic
term.† The student must initiate the
appeal process, in a timely manner, in order to give the institution time to
complete its review before the deadline described in the
preceding sentence.

History:

The Montana University System Transfer of Credit
Policy as promulgated by the Commissioner of Higher Education, February 3,
1976; Item 27-009-R0680, June 23, 1980, as revised April 13, 1981, May 21,
1982, June 20, 1986, March 17, 1989, January 29, 1998, September 17,
1998, November 18, 1999 (Item
104-103-R0999), March 23, 2001 (Item 110-102-R0101), and March 3, 2003 (Item 117-104-R1102)